Cash vs Points?

[valeriekc]

Hello all, I have been reading a bit about DCL and wondering how many of you have done a cruise on DVC points?
If so do you think that is a better deal that way rather than cash?
We usually go to WDW once a year and stay 7-10 nights at the Boardwalk and are thinking that we may give WDW a rest for a bit and use up 2 yrs worth of points for a 7 day Western Carribean cruise. We have been on a Royal Carribean cruise and loved it. The Disney cruise is certainly more expensive...but is it worth it?? We would do our own airfare and looks like the happy limo from the airport is the preferred mode of transport.
However I am a DCL newbie and would appreciate any and all input from those of you that can help!
Thanks in advance!!

 

[Verandah Man]

I know you will get a lot of different opinions on this topic, but I would just like to say this: If it wasn't for my DVC points we would not be going on our cruise in three weeks. We joined DVC with the notion of using our points for cruising, as well as for other destinations. I know, what has been said about the point cost vs. paying cash, but, I'm paying for my points and dues on a monthly basis, and there wouldn't be enough $$ left to afford a cruise. So, for my family, this is the only way we can go on a cruise, at this time.

My feeling is this, they are your points and you use them as you see fit, and ENJOY!!!

BTW, we are using two years worth of points for our cruise, and I don't regret it for one minute!!!

 

[eva]

You will definitely get mixed answers on this one. We think it is worth using the DVC points. We took a 3-day cruise this past May and decided to rebook and take the whole family this next May. The Magical Rates that they are offerring for a 7-day Eastern next May is $1,349 (tax not included, with tax it is nearly $1,500) per person in a cat 6. We are paying 174 points per person for the cat 6. I know that a lot of people will say that you could rent the points for $10 each and make $1,740 to pay for the cruise. I guess if you don't pay taxes on the rent money that you collect then you would be ahead $240. Unfornunately, all tax specialist that I have talked to have said that you must pay income tax on that rental money. We pay about 30% tax. So that now brings the $1740 down to $1218. If you pay tax on the rental money you would actually be losing money on the deal if you rented out your points. Plus I don't need the hassle. I only wish that we had enough points to book all three cabins on points.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I think there are a lot of people on the DVC board who will tell you the cost analysis, etc. of using points. That said, we used points for all but DS on our 4 day Wonder in June. We could never have afforded a cat. 4. The points are for vacationing, right? So use them how you want to.
I can give you one example, though. I was looking into a 3 day this December for me and DH. It would cost 142 points. I have 141 (although I could get another one from a nice gentleman on the DVC board). The cash cost for one of us was $629 if the other used points. At the same time, DCL is running a special to get a cat. 11 for $379! So the prices we pay are inflated.
But we had priced a 7 day western, two cat. 10 rooms connecting--it was $6800! A cat. 4 was $8300! (This is July). I don't have that sitting around. Since we have 3 kids and have to cruise during high season since I teach, points helped us out quite a bit. I'm considering right now a 3 day added on to our 2005 trip since my dad is buying next year.
Robin M.

 

[bwbuddy]

We too are using points next year for the cruise.

We like the idea of no additional cash outlay, and no inconvenience of trying to rent points.

 

[valeriekc]

Thank you for the informative responses!
We are going ahead and booking our cruise for spring break
Our thought is to rest on the theme parks for a bit but I suspect we might have to take a cash trip to satisfy our WDW fix.
Now that we are booking a trip I'm sure we will have many more DCL questions.
For one how big a deal is it to eat at Palo's?? I mean don't the dining rooms have great food every night? And is it only 5.00 per person for dinner, or is that just the reservation?
Thanks

 

[married@wdw]

Well, maybe you won't get differing opinions on this. It looks like everyone who has responded agrees! The way we looked at buying points was to pay for our vacations "up front," not necessarily just to get the best deal. We love the DVCs, but we've used points to stay at the GC at DL and to stay at DL Paris (actually a great deal because it comes with park passes and breakfast each day for up to 4 people per room!). We're doing a 3-day cruise on points in January. If we run out of points, we have four options -- stay home, go on a cheaper vacation somewhere else, pay cash for WDW or stay with the in-laws who live 30 minutes from Disney. We can live for one year without points to have a dreamy vacation another -- it's SOOO worth it to us! But like I said, each family vacations differently and you just have to do what works best for you!

As for Palo's -- the other dining rooms are great, but there's something really special about Palo. It is just the $5 extra for the whole meal and the food was amazing the last time we were there. Can't wait to go again! It is for adults only, so if you're taking the kids, you need to make other arrangements for them while you dine.

Have a great time!

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

We rented points out to pay for our upcoming cruise. It would have cost us around 650 pts for our family of five. We saved over 200pts by renting out and paying cash!!! A 200 point savings...that's a whole other WDW vacation.

Also, keep in mind that the cancelation policy is much harsher using points especially if you are cruising late in your use year and definetly if you borrow a bunch of points to do it. A cash reservation will get you a much better return in the event you need to cancel.

Have Fun!

 

[married@wdw]

That's true Johnnie Fedora -- for larger groups or if you want to stay in high room category, renting out points to pay cash might definitely be the way to go. We're staying in a Category 11, cash price would be about $900-950. So if we'd rented out around 100 points for $10/point, that would have worked. But the reservation only cost us 124 points, so I'm not too upset about not thinking of it. But I'll have to remember to check that everytime we do this -- eventually I bet it would really pay off for us, too!

 

[disney6]

We have taken two cruises (3 cabins each time) on points, are getting ready to take our 3rd on points and plan on booking 3 cabins while "on board" (you actually have 3 days afterward) for Oct. 2004. If not for DVC, there is NO WAY we could afford this. In my opinion, getting to go on DCL as many times as we have (and taking people with us) has been worth every point! We've not been to WDW yet but I know someday we will.

My parents joined DVC while on board last Oct. specifically to cruise, they are going with us this Nov. and maybe next Oct. too. They LOVE DCL!!!!!! They get a verandah, we get inside cabins. This Nov. we are going adults only and I'd love nothing more than to have a verandah but am saving points for next year to take the kids and a friend and SIL and BIL.

Between the 4 kids, sports, activities for them, schoolwork, churchwork, etc. I do not have the time to rent points and worry about the "value". To me, I use them the way I see fit, besides, if I rented the points, my DH would probably find something besides the cruise to spend the money on!

 

[Hygiene99]

first let me start by saying they r your points to do with what u want but, u can rent out the points on the dvc rent trade board on this forum for free and it is painless.... we have on many occasions rented points from the nice people on the boards
and had no problems , because we where point broke....
and we feel this is the route to go rent out the points and use they cash to get the best deal , threw an agent
that way u could have the tips and some spending money
also i personally like to have the points left that i would not have given to disney cruise lines.... for other trips to the world
also look at this some people book 1 person on the points and then get the cash rate for others in the cabin....
some how that works for them............. peter

 

[ncligs]

I can see both sides in this issue(points vs cash). The only problem I have with DVC is they keep raising the amount of points it takes to cruise every year(last 3 years they have gone up).
What is it going to cost to cruise(points wise) 10 years from now

??

We enjoy being DVC members( 5 years) and all the benifits from DVC. It is very easy to call MS and book a cruise

and not have to have any cash outlay at that time.
With that being said......we booked our Feb cruise through DU with cash, and saved the points for another DVC trip.

 

[eva]

Well the points did go up on the shorter cruises, but went down this year on the 7-days. I haven't seen to big of a jump over the last couple years. But I will add that I think that the points are reasonable on 7-days but too high for 3 and 4-days.

 

[bwbuddy]

The 7-day Western went up.

 

[dcbrown]

I also travel for spring break. I have gone on the cruise the last 2 Easters. I have used points both times for myself and paid cash for my children.
The last time I was onboard I checked into rebooking so I could get the $200 onboard credit that you can not get w/DVC. To my surprise the cash amt for all three of us was the same as I had paid DVC for just my 2 children....so in other words I did not use points...saved them to go to WDW at Christmas and it is costing me almost the exact amt I paid w/pts.
DVC has a much higher cost then the cruise line itself. Don't get me wrong, I love DVC and would not give it up for the world, but why waste my valuable points?

DCBrown

 

[Dean]

Some specific choices went down for 2004 but overall, the points went up. The return compared to discount advance books is about $6.50-7.50 per point for cat 5 or less, cat 4 tends to be a little better. If one rented their points and used cash, they'd be better off by a significant amount. You can book about 18 months out cash and cancel up to 2 months with NO penalty. With DVC you can only book 11 months out and there is a substantial penalty if you cancel.